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"Wilts social services haven't failed me, they have failed my children, however I do thank you very much for your kind sentiments!

Yes I have already issued a s7(1) Data Protection Act 1998 coupled with a Freedom of Information Act 2000 request to establish exactly what is going on.

I have not done this for malicious or litigious reasons but more to establish fact as I recently discovered that they had lost a whole bundle of key evidence in my case, merely because somebody forgot to scan it!

To date Wilts social services have not acknowledged any of my correspondence let alone my formal requests for information.

In the past social services dragged their heels in fulfilling a similar request and in any regard did not fully comply with that request.

On reading the documentation requested last time, I was horrified not only to read that they had dismissed my concerns and the similar concerns raised independently by others, but one particular social worker actually went as far actively attacking my integrity in a particularly aggressive manner!

As you might expect I also found a number of quite arrogant assumptions and breathtaking inaccuracies in the files.

I am prepared even now to give them the benefit of the doubt now that fresh concerns are in front of them, but only so far as in they do the right thing this time.

I certainly will not allow a similar whitewash to happen again and will take it to the ECHR if I really have to."

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Jane Scott, leader of the council

Vulnerable children in Wiltshire have been exposed to a significant risk of harm by Wiltshire Council's failed child protection team, inspectors have said.

Leader of the council Jane Scott admitted that findings by Ofsted inspectors were "not good enough".

Police and health authorities also came under fire in the report which said 17 cases out of 92 inspected left inspectors concerned.

The council has pumped an emergency £500,000 from its reserves into the children's services department in a bid to turn around its fortunes.

Inspectors found 'significant failings' in child protection work. There were oversights by managers who were tasked with minimising risks to children, while child protection plans were not issued
when they should have been.

Cllr Scott said: "Inspections are difficult but necessary. We don't hide away from them and we fully accept it wasn't good enough."

It has emerged that the council was aware the department had problems last November when it carried out its own review.

Carolyn Godfrey, corporate director for children's services, said: "It was not just the managers that were not robust but the quality control was not there either. We did have some concerns when we
did our own review.

"We were putting the changes in just when the inspectors arrived."

The two-week inspection, carried out in March, said that the council's 'looked after' children's services were adequate and that they had adequate capacity to turn around the 'inadequate' finding
for safeguarding services.

Inspectors praised the council for not cutting its budget and said that its interventions had a strong child-focus.

An independent board will now be established to monitor the department's work more closely, while inspectors are expected to return in six to nine months to check on progress.